Unknown to many, the creation of articles to be posted online can do wonders for your search engine optimization (SEO). Whether you’re a good writer or not, it is of utmost importance to get articles created, place them on your website or blog, and submit them to article directories online. Article creation is a free and extremely effective way to increase traffic to your website.
Step 1: Write an article
Even if you aren’t the best writer in the world, take some time to write a decent article on some “niche” related to your industry. The article should be very information-based and not a sales article. After all, people are reading the article because they want the information, not a product pushed in their face. Also, using relevant keywords in your article (not so many it’s annoying) will help Google to see the relevancy between your article and your webpage (which you link to), and if you have other relevant articles online, linking to them can help to increase traffic.
Step 2: Get the articles out there
As online marketers say, “content is king”. No one is going to view your website if all you have are a bunch of links and some advertising. Even more importantly, Google isn’t going to rank your page well if you don’t have something which is appealing to visitors. So, you should place articles on your website. Doing so will enable this important content, provide an opportunity to do some “silo” SEO (links to other pages on your website), establish credibility for you or your business, and hopefully some other sites will see the article and link to it.
It’s also very important for these articles to be placed in other places on the net. Create a blog related to your product or service, then put these articles in it. A good blog will not only help to establish more credibility, but it will give you an opportunity to link to your website. This will generate traffic to your site as well as help to boost your Google PageRank.
In addition to a blog, it is also important to submit articles to online article directories. Submission is very simple, and it is almost always free. For the same reason as with a blog, this can help make your site more visible and establish credibility in your field.
The advantages of article submission don’t only stem from increased traffic to your site. Articles can be used to promote a product or service as well. Like I said before, your articles shouldn’t be focused on selling your product or service—they must be informative—but it is okay to have a resource box at the end of the article highlighting your products. This is a place where you can tell a little bit about yourself or your business, and provide the link to your site.
So, now you know what kind of article to write, and what to do with it once it is written, but how often should you write and submit articles? Steve Shaw from SiteProNews recommends as many as 8 articles per month for the entire life of your website, and each article should be submitted to numerous of the most relevant and popular directories.
Unfortunately, this is not an ideal world and we may not always have time to write articles and keep up with their submission. If this is the case, hire someone to write articles for you. There are plenty of people willing to do this, and you’ll still be able to have your name listed as the author (giving you the credibility).
As I have explained, the creation and submission of articles is a necessary marketing effort to increase traffic to your website, obtain credibility for yourself or your business, and promote your product or service. Not only is a link created when you submit the article, but every time the article is re-published or linked to, your traffic is increased. Google will index your new articles, realize their relevancy, and your Google ranking will increase. But don’t forget, these processes take time, and don’t be surprised if it takes 3-4 months to observe a change in your Google ranking.
Good luck with your articles.
Nisbet, Peter. How Writing Articles Can Generate Traffic and Improve Sales. SiteProNews.com, July 23, 2009. http://www.sitepronews.com/2009/07/23/how-writing-articles-can-generate-traffic-and-improve-sales/, August 14, 2009.
Shaw, Steve. Article Marketing: A Beginner’s Guide. SiteProNews.com, July 31, 2009. http://www.sitepronews.com/2009/07/31/article-marketing-a-beginners-guide/, August 14, 2009.
SiteProNews. Article Marketing Tips: 7 Ways Articles Can Boost Your Business. SiteProNews.com, July 28, 2009. http://www.sitepronews.com/2009/07/28/article-marketing-tips-7-ways-articles-can-boost-your-business/, August 14, 2009.
